


(non)technical difficulties

by celegant



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: 5+1 (but only kind of), Alternate Universe, Fluff, M/M, Professor!Doyoung, Secret Relationship, zoom classes: the au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:01:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27219061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celegant/pseuds/celegant
Summary: You see, past a few rumors here and there, nobody really knew anything about Professor Kim’s private life—no fun anecdotes from home, or about his family. No mention of kids, or even of a significant other.(It takes almost a whole semester of online learning, a few accidental cameos, and more than a handful of technical difficulties for the class to find out that Dr. Kim Doyoung from the neuroscience department was not only unavailable, but that he was also off the market forgood.)
Relationships: Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung/Lee Taeyong
Comments: 219
Kudos: 1733





	(non)technical difficulties

Seven years of slaving away in graduate school, and another two doing a postdoctoral fellowship just to land this professorship, and the thing that finally, _finally_ manages to bring him down to his knees is this—a malfunctioning microphone and an endless stream of messages in the chat from his students telling him that they can’t hear a damn thing.

 _Transitioning to online classes will be easy_ , they said. _You’ve got a PhD, so it shouldn’t be that hard to figure out something as simple as the Zoom app_ , they said. 

What a load of fucking bullshit. 

He’s already ten minutes into what was supposed to be his first online lecture of the semester, and things were going about as well as he was expecting.

That is to say, everything was already going absolutely, horribly wrong.

Doyoung lets out another defeated sigh as he leans back in his chair, eyes flitting down to look at the time on the corner of his screen as he tries—and fails—to fiddle with his apparently messed up audio settings. His camera’s still on, and he sees his reflection frown back at him from the little window in the corner of his eye, lips jutting out in a small pout as he asks his students if they _can hear him now_? for what feels like the millionth time in just the last five minutes. 

The chat lights up with another round of resounding _nos_ , punctuated with the occasional _still can’t hear you, prof kim!_ from one of his chat-moderating TAs. 

He lets out another tired sigh, before he resigns himself to an afternoon of arguing with the departmental head and their IT team. It was a shame, really. He’d been quite looking forward to this class. It was the only fourth year course he’d agreed to teach this year—a translational neuroscience journal club, whose small roster was made up of some of his favourite students. 

He throws the camera an apologetic smile before typing in the chat.

  


* * *

  


**Dr. Kim Doyoung** @KimDoyoung  
Sorry guys, I’m afraid I’m going to have to cut this lecture short. I’ll send you all the syllabus instead, along with some notes, and we can try and make it up next week once I sort this all out. In the meantime, however, feel free to shoot me an email if you have any urgent questions. Again, sorry for all the technical difficulties!

  


* * *

  


Despite his apparent ineptitude when it came to anything related to electronics, Professor Kim’s track record when it came to teaching was usually pretty spotless—most of his students love him, dry neuroscience-related humor and all, and even the ones who complain about how hard his classes were had something nice to say about him at the end of the day. 

He was a young, accomplished professor that was easy to talk to and even easier on the eyes. It was no surprise that he was a fan-favourite, even amongst the other faculty members. 

It was really too bad, then, that no one knew anything about him. 

See, Professor Kim had always had a bit of a reputation for being somewhat of an enigma, despite having been teaching at SMU for almost three years now. 

Most of what people knew about him were based off of obvious observations—they knew that he always came to his 8 AM class fifteen minutes early, a large iced americano in hand and basically dead to the world until he’d gone through at least half of his cup. They knew that he was quite fond of his sweater vests and oversized cardigans, his wardrobe making him look more like a student than an actual professor. They even knew about his ongoing feud with Professor Jung from the Biochemistry department, despite how much he tries to deny it.

The most exciting thing they’d learned about him over the years is that Professor Kim could apparently _sing_ , and that particular tidbit was only revealed because one of his graduate TAs confessed to seeing him get plastered with some of the other professors at one of the departmental retreats. 

So really, past a few rumors here and there, nobody really knew anything about Professor Kim’s private life—no fun anecdotes from home, or about his family. No mention of kids, or even of a significant other. 

Kim Doyoung kept his lips tightly sealed shut, and for as much as he’d been able to help it, it seemed as if it was going to _stay_ that way. 

Suffice to say, his students hadn’t really expected anything to be different, when they were told that Professor Kim would be livestreaming his lectures online, from the comfort of his own home. 

Imagine their surprise, then, when they find out about the existence of The Fiancé. 

  


* * *

  


It starts like this. 

Despite Professor Kim’s earlier promises about resolving any lingering AV issues for the next week’s class, the same audio problems start back up about halfway into the lecture. He was in the middle of a slide on patch clamp techniques when his chat started blowing up again, comments filtering in about how his audio had abruptly cut off. 

Professor Kim sighs, the action silent to all of his students, and moves to type in the chat.

  


* * *

  


**Dr. Kim Doyoung** @KimDoyoung  
One moment, guys. Let me just grab another mic to see if that’ll work instead.

  


* * *

  


He shoots the chat another sheepish grin before getting up from his seat, the camera left focused on his empty office chair and the beige background of his study room behind it. 

Not even a couple of minutes pass before a body makes its way back into frame—but one that didn’t belong to Professor Kim, if the sudden change of clothes was any indication. Where Professor Kim was wearing a dark blue sweater, this person was wearing nothing but a buttoned up cardigan, the low cut of the fluffy fabric just barely exposing a set of sharp collarbones as the person leans over the laptop to set up the new desk mic. 

The students couldn’t see who this mystery person was, face cut off by the top of the camera as Professor Kim steps back into frame behind him. They see him talk to the Mystery Man, a small, grateful smile on his face as he gestures at his desk. 

Eventually, Professor Kim settles back into his seat, and a handful of beats pass before the audio crackles back to life.

“—llo? Hello? Can you hear me now?” Professor Kim says, eyes trained on the chat. The Mystery Man lingers just off to the side, arms crossed as he stays silent, probably waiting to see if everything was working fine. 

A chorus of affirmatives flood through the chat, accompanied by the handful of questions as to who their mystery guest was that Professor Kim promptly ignores.

Professor Kim grins. “Perfect.” He turns to look up at the Mystery Man, smile softening as he says, “Thanks for all the help. I’m sorry I had to drag you out here, but you know how I am with these things.”

The students don’t hear a reply, but Mystery Man uncrosses his arms, a hand clamping down briefly on one of Professor Kim’s shoulders as he turns to leave the room. 

They watch as Professor Kim’s eyes trail after him as he leaves, and the chat proceeds to explode with even more questions. 

Professor Kim merely clears his throat once, sharing his screen once more with a pointed look thrown at the camera, an arched brow raised to signal that the fun was over. 

“Well then,” Professor Kim says, continuing to ignore the chat. “Where were we?”

  


* * *

  


| @LeeDonghyuck prof kim u can’t just leave us on read like this

| @LeeDonghyuck c’mon you know you wanna answer the chat....

| @HuangRenjun it was probably just his roommate or something hyuck let it go

| @LeeDonghyuck u can’t tell me you’re not curious

| @LeeDonghyuck prof kim?? with FRIENDS? I’ll believe it when i see it

 **Dr. Kim Doyoung** @KimDoyoung Donghyuck, you know I can still see the chatlog even after we’re done, right?

| @LeeDonghyuck 🤐

  


* * *

  


The next few times that the Mystery Man makes an appearance in one of Professor Kim’s lectures, it’s much of the same—face hidden entirely from view, just a glimpse of an outstretched arm here or there, almost always swathed in comfy-looking long-sleeved sweaters as they adjusted whatever setup was behind Professor Kim’s laptop. 

The questions don’t stop coming in. Professor Kim doesn’t even bat an eyelash. 

It takes one whole month before they manage to slip up. 

Professor Kim is mid-sentence when he pauses, head turning to the side as something off-camera grabs his attention. There’s a murmuring that’s too faint for the audience to make out, and they watch as a mug—still steaming with what is presumably coffee—is set off towards the left side of Professor Kim’s desk, just barely catching within the frame of the camera. 

The proffered hand lingers for a second though, moving to give Professor Kim’s wrist a gentle squeeze before retreating—a reminder to take care of himself, they reckon. Professor Kim’s been looking more tired lately, eye bags stark against his usually handsome face, and the chat collectively starts to coo at the sweet gesture. 

And then they watch, absolutely flabbergasted, as Professor Kim catches the hand before it could run away completely, bringing the hand up to leave a chaste kiss onto the Mystery Man’s knuckles. Professor Kim’s thumb brushes across the back of the other’s fingers once, before startling suddenly, as if remembering that he was _live_ , and that they had an audience.

The hand retracts, and Professor Kim straightens up in his seat. 

It’s Donghyuck, of course, that points it out anyway. Damn kid was always too observant for his own good. 

  


* * *

  


| @LeeDonghyuck wait

| @LeeDonghyuck WAS THAT?? A RING?? ON ROOMIE’S FINGER?

| @LeeDonghyuck HOLY SHIT IT WAS

| @LeeDonghyuck PROF KIM YOU’RE MARRIED???

  


* * *

  


Professor Kim reads over the chat, face carefully neutral as he says, “No, I’m not.”

The chat continues to go on, responses coming in faster than he can keep up with them. He’s not even lying, _per se_ , because it’s true that he isn’t married.

  


* * *

  


**Kim Jungwoo, Teaching Assistant** @KimJungwoo  
Not _yet_ , at least.

  


* * *

  


Professor Kim scowls, but there’s no real heat to it. “You may be my TA, Jungwoo, but that is _exactly_ why I can still fire you.” 

(He never said anything about not being _engaged_ , after all.)

  


* * *

  


And thus, Mystery Man’s nickname changed to Mystery Fiancé seemingly overnight, and by the time the next lecture arrives, everyone in the department has been made newly aware of Professor Kim’s apparently _bustling_ love life. 

They don’t get another sighting of Professor Kim’s fiancé for at least two weeks. 

They’ve finally moved onto the neural circuitry module—Professor Kim’s apparent favourite of the semester—and he’s been going on and on about central pattern generators for the past 45 minutes, one eye on his chat as he goes through his meticulously crafted slides. 

Professor Kim cuts himself off suddenly, head tilting up to look past the laptop in front of them, brows furrowing at something they can’t see. 

“—Sorry,” they hear, and the voice is quiet, too far away from the mic. The chat starts spamming ring emojis, followed by a barrage of question marks. “I didn’t realize you were teaching. I’ll just come back later?”

Professor Kim’s eyes flicker down to the chat, the corner of his mouth ticking up in amusement at the endless stream of comments. “No, it’s fine,” he says, and the class hangs on to every word exchanged between them. “Is it something wrong? What is it?”

The voice gets closer, the Mystery Fiancé presumably standing right in front of Professor Kim’s desk. 

“Everything’s fine,” they hear him say. “Just wanted to double check to see if you were free on Saturday for brunch?”

Professor Kim looks back down at his screen, calendar app no doubt open in front of him. 

“Should be, yeah,” he says, before looking back up at his unexpected guest. “Why?”

Mystery Fiancé snorts. “Figured it was time to break the news to my half of the wedding.”

Professor Kim visibly blanches on camera, before warily staring back down at his screen. Unbeknownst to most of his audience though, his gaze fixates on one name in particular. 

The chat explodes with more questions. 

“Bit too late for that, I think,” Professor Kim says weakly. “But yeah, Saturday’s fine.”

“Alrighty,” Mystery Fiancé says. He raises his voice then, just enough to make sure that the rest of the class hears him. “Sorry for interrupting, everyone! Good luck with the rest of the class—” 

Professor Kim glares then, head tipped up as he looks at the man in front of him, head shaking minutely in warning. 

“—and please make sure to do well on your assignments,” the voice continues, unbothered despite Professor Kim’s impending wrath. He laughs then, and it’s a light, twinkling sound. “Professor Kim will cry if you don’t.”

“Yong—” Professor Kim hisses, before catching himself. He composes himself, settling into a tight-lipped smile. “Please leave. I still need to wrap up my class.”

 _Yong_ lets out another laugh, the sound of it fading as he obliges Professor Kim’s request, and a beat passes before they hear the sound of a door gently being closed. 

Professor Kim turns his attention back to his class, a hand reaching up to re-adjust his reading glasses before changing the slide, picking up from where he left off as if nothing had happened. 

“You lot would do well to ignore him,” he says simply. Professor Kim’s eyes quickly pass over the chat, but his face gives nothing away. “And no, I will not be answering any questions about my personal life, no matter how many of you ask.” 

An answering stream of sad crying emojis. 

And as always, Professor Kim ignores them with a sigh. “So, as I was saying, respiratory CPGs—” 

  


* * *

  


| @NaJaemin prof kim’s fiancé sounds so cute

| @ParkJisung he sounded kind of familiar though?

| @LeeMark ...

| @LeeMark ...uhh

| @LeeMark what

| @LeeMark um prof kim?? haha what’s happening...

| @LeeDonghyuck mark??

 **Dr. Kim Doyoung** @KimDoyoung @LeeMark ( ** **Privately**** ) Please check your inbox at your earliest convenience.

  


* * *

  


Professor Kim holds office hours sometimes. It’s a lot easier now that everything’s online.

Usually held right after his lectures, it’s a chance for some of his students to come and bother him with questions that he didn’t have time to cover during the class— _related to the subject matter at hand_ , Professor Kim pointedly reminds them. 

So really, nobody could have expected it when Professor Kim excuses himself from the meeting to take a quick call, only for a second voice to pop into the call a couple of minutes later. 

“Doyoung? Do you mind helping me out with my stream—” It’s Professor Kim’s fiancé, the same voice from yesterday’s little cameo. “Oh, he’s not here.” 

Donghyuck’s quick to unmute himself, his tinny voice echoing from Professor Kim’s laptop on his desk. 

“Wait!” Donghyuck calls out. “Professor Kim’s fiancé!”

A silent pause, the students waiting with bated breath for a response, followed by a collective gasp as an unfamiliar figure sits himself down in Professor Kim’s usual seat. 

“Yes?” 

They can barely see the newcomer’s face, features covered by a mask and a beanie drawn down to his eyebrows. The tips of what looks to be bleach blond hair stick out from under the beanie, the longer strands curling around the nape of his neck as he adjusts his hat. 

He smiles then, wide doe-eyes crinkling in the corners as he takes in Doyoung’s class in front of him. “You called?”

 _Cute_ , is the first thought that crosses their minds. A general consensus, it seems, as they take in yet _another_ cream-coloured cardigan—mohair fabric this time, and yet again, buttoned all the way to the top with nothing underneath. 

Contrasted with Professor Kim’s usually conservative taste in clothing, they really did make quite the pair. 

“Uh,” Donghyuck flounders, eyes blinking owlishly back at the screen in front of him. “Honestly, I didn’t think I’d get this far.” 

“Let me guess.” A soft laugh, followed by a curious tilt of the head. “You’re Donghyuck, right?” 

Donghyuck’s brows furrow in confusion, his pixelated figure leaning in closer to the camera. “Yes? How did you know?” 

“I’ve heard a lot about you, of course,” Professor Kim’s fiancé says. There’s a playful glint in his eyes as he looks down towards the side of the screen, voice lilting as he continues. “From multiple sources, too.”

A sound closely resembling a squeak resonates through the audio, at the same time that Mark Lee suspiciously turns his webcam off.

“Plus,” the Fiancé continues, unbothered, “you’re the one slated to join Doyoung’s lab next year, right? The neurophysiology kid?”

“Yes,” Donghyuck answers, a little breathy in disbelief. “But um—”

“I’ve always wanted to meet some of Doie’s students, y’know? But I’m sure you all know how stingy he is.” He glances down at the clock, taking note of how long it’s been since he’d stepped foot in the room. “You guys probably have another minute or so before he gets back from his call, so fire away now, I guess?” Another chuckle. “While you still can. I promise I’ll answer as much as I can.”

The chat starts to flood with questions—most of them pretty basic (“Yes, I actually _am_ Professor Kim’s fiancé, and no, this isn’t just some elaborate prank.” A pause. “Though, that _would_ be pretty funny. Heh.”), to a few that were a little more personal (from “No, I will neither confirm nor deny whether Professor Kim is ‘ _shredded underneath all of the grandpa sweaters_ ’, Jesus—” all the way to “—we met in high school, got together when Doyoung was in grad school, and have been together for almost five or six years? Mm yeah, closer to six.”) 

The little impromptu Q&A session manages to last almost a full two minutes, the students revelling in all the gossip that’ll be sure to fuel the grapevine for months to come. 

“Last one, folks!” Professor Kim’s fiancé skims over the last few questions, before landing on one with a wry smile. “Let’s see…‘ _can you tell us your name? Or what you do? Are you a professor too?_ ’” 

“God, no, you can’t pay me enough money to be an academic. So no, definitely not a professor.” Then, he grins, before bringing a finger up to his masked lips—the universal sign of a secret—before winking into the camera. “But as for the rest...unfortunately, I can’t answer that right now, or else Professor Kim might actually murder me before our wedding,” he laughs, before continuing. “You guys will probably find out sooner or later though, if you can wait a little longer—” 

“ _What_ are you doing in here?” Professor Kim’s voice is high-pitched and panicked from where it carries from the entrance to the room. 

“Just saying hi to your lovely students.” They watch as the now-not-so-mysterious fiancé blinks guilelessly in Professor Kim’s general direction, seemingly unfazed by how quickly Professor Kim was approaching. “I was looking for you but you weren’t here.” 

“I was on a _call_.” 

Professor Kim lets out a frustrated huff, finally moving into the frame as he crouches down next to his fiancé, who is still seated in Professor Kim’s office chair. Professor Kim glares up into the camera, and at the multitude of guilty faces that greet him in the face of getting caught grilling his fiancé with prying questions. 

“Oh, don’t be too mad at them,” Professor Kim’s fiancé grins, reaching out to run a gentle hand through Professor Kim’s hair. “I was the one who wanted to have some fun.”

Professor Kim looks up to his fiancé, scathing retort dying on his tongue as he takes in the other’s eyes—fond affection clear, even to the strangers on the call. The look shared between them is tender, almost entirely too intimate, and true to form, the chat begins anew with another obnoxious round of ring emojis. 

“Um, Professor?” Mark Lee’s voice crackles to life, interrupting the moment and reminding him, _again,_ of the fact that he was very much still _live_. Mark’s eyes are turned away, steadfastly avoiding looking at his screen as he stutters out, “Can we, uh, get back to the discussion?”

The tips of Professor Kim’s ears burn a bright red at the blatant display of affection, and he coughs once to clear his throat before nodding and straightening up to stand. He tugs his fiancé out of the seat and ushers him out of frame, and though they can’t see the way Professor Kim walks him out, a prolonged beat passes before Professor Kim plops back down into his seat. 

His collar is slightly more rumpled than what they saw just a few seconds ago, but mercifully, no one is brave enough to comment on it. 

Professor Kim glares at them all once last time, just for good measure.

“Not a word of this to anyone, do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir.”

  


* * *

  


| @LeeDonghyuck @LeeMark ( ** **Privately**** ) now what the hell was that all about? you were being weirder than usual

| @LeeMark @LeeDonghyuck ( ** **Privately**** ) um

| @LeeDonghyuck @LeeMark ( ** **Privately**** ) mark. babe. spit it out

| @LeeMark @LeeDonghyuck ( ** **Privately**** ) so... remember my brother? the one you haven’t met yet?

| @LeeDonghyuck @LeeMark ( ** **Privately**** ) ...yes?

| @LeeMark @LeeDonghyuck ( ** **Privately**** ) turns out prof kim and i are gonna be in-laws

| @LeeDonghyuck @LeeMark ( ** **Privately**** ) oh

| @LeeDonghyuck @LeeMark ( ** **Privately**** ) oh _shit_

| @LeeDonghyuck @LeeMark ( ** **Privately**** ) but isn’t your brother—

  


* * *

  


Professor Kim was absolutely exhausted. 

Anyone with eyes could see it. He’d started the lecture late—practically unheard of in his short tenure as a teacher—and the dark eye bags from before had gotten considerably worse. His normally perfectly coiffed hair was unstyled and floppy over his forehead, and he was wearing a _hoodie_ , of all things. 

It was nearing the end of November, and _grant deadline season_ was coming up. Those who were lucky enough to have scored volunteer positions in their department’s labs knew how stressful these times usually were for their professors, most of them stretched thin between juggling their lecturing responsibilities and running an actual staff full of people in the lab.

It didn’t really help that Professor Kim was a young faculty member either—it was publish or die, when it came to research in their field, and the newest departmental recruits always had the most to prove. It’s kind of sad, really. Jungwoo’s horror stories from the years past were enough to give people an idea of how much of a zombie their beloved professor became whenever this time of the year rolled around. 

Professor Kim’s losing battle with technology seems to be worse off today too, with minutes wasted as he forgets to click through to the proper slide, and his audio fizzling out about 40 minutes into the lecture. He’d barely given the chat more than a few glances throughout the entire session, rushing through some of the slides before inevitably cutting their lecture short and calling it a day. 

He’s so out of it, that he even manages to mistakenly press the minimize button instead of exiting out of the meeting, lowering the lid to his laptop about halfway down before slumping back into his chair. 

The camera only manages to pick up the lower half of Professor Kim’s torso, the bottom half of the screen obscured by the edge of the table as the video call continues to go on, and the muted students listen on in curiosity to see when their professor would notice his mistake.

A minute passes, before there’s an audible knock on the door.

“Come in,” Professor Kim croaks out, voice hoarse from speaking for so long.

“You all done in here?” It’s The Fiancé again. And though Professor Kim can’t see it, the chat welcomes the new arrival with his signature emoji, the cartoon ring accompanied by a flurry of hearts this time around.

Another figure steps in frame, and they see the bottom half of Professor Kim’s fiancé coming up to turn Professor Kim in his seat to face him. Professor Kim reaches out with hands on his fiancé's hips, pulling him in close to stand in between his legs as he tips forward to lean his head against the other's chest.

“You need to sleep,” Professor Kim's fiancé murmurs. They see him run a soothing hand up and down Professor Kim's back, staggering back a little when Professor Kim leans forward just that much more, resting most of his tired weight against his fiancé's stable presence.

“Can't,” Professor Kim murmurs, words muffled into his fiancé's shirt. “Still not done writing the—”

He gets interrupted by a short tutting sound.

“Aren't you still waiting on some of Jungwoo's data for that though?” The hand on Professor Kim's back stops, moving up to his shoulders to bring him into a proper embrace instead. “You've done as much as you can for now. The data will come when it does, and then you can go back into crunch mode.” A hand moves down to playfully pinch at Professor Kim's side, earning him a short whine and a half-hearted shove in return. “But for now, I want you to march your ass upstairs and into bed.”

“But—”

“No buts, asshole. You look like you're about to pass out.”

“Geez, darling,” Professor Kim snorts, but his hands move from his fiancé's hips to circle around his waist instead. “When did you become such a fucking charmer?”

“It happened around the time you asked me to marry you, unfortunately.”

“Hm. A damn shame, that.”

Professor Kim straightens up in his seat at the same time as his fiancé leans down to meet him in the middle, and though they can't see it because of the camera angle, the short silence that follows is telling enough.

The chat celebrates with a flurry of kiss emojis.

They eventually separate, Professor Kim's fiancé tugging insistently on his arm to get him to stand up with a stern, “Up you go. Straight to bed.”

Professor Kim gets up slowly, with more than a little effort on his part, before wrapping an arm around his fiancé's waist to pull him close once more. “Will you be joining me?”

Another short, telling pause. The kissy face emojis are phased out in favour of fire emojis instead.

“In a bit, maybe,” Professor Kim's fiancé murmurs. “I still gotta clean up down here and make dinner, but I'll be up soon.”

A sigh, accompanied by a pout not visible to the audience. “Fine.”

The couple shuffles out of frame together, and for a while, there is nothing.

The students who had remained on the call burst into frenzied conversation, newfound speculation on Professor Kim and his softer side fuelling comment after comment, all gushing over what they'd just witnessed.

Another handful of minutes pass, before Professor Kim's fiancé walks back into frame. He straightens the lid of the laptop—intending to shut it down properly—before pausing at the sight of the meeting still in progress.

“Oh,” he blinks, and this time his face isn't covered by a mask or an obnoxious hat. Professor Kim's fiancé grins. “Hello again.”

The chat explodes again, but for an entirely different reason this time.

He settles down into the chair, much like he had that other time, chin coming to rest in the palm of his hand as he watches the comments scroll past. “You all realize he isn't going to be happy about this, right?”

He shrugs then, smile stretching out into a grin as he looks straight into the camera.

“Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later,” he says. His eyes rake over the chat, a singular eyebrow raising at the multitude of comments spamming just his name, taking note of the excessive amounts of exclamation marks.

A few comments in particular seem to catch his eye because he hums, a thoughtful pout forming on his face as he says, “We were planning on doing the reveal on my channel next month, but I guess it wouldn't make a difference if you guys find out a little earlier.”

A short ringtone blares out suddenly, and he jumps in his seat. The action startles the rest of the class, and they watch as Professor Kim's fiancé takes his phone out of his pocket to read a message.

“Well, it looks like I'm being summoned by our royal pain in the ass,” he laughs softly. He taps out a quick reply before looking back up at the camera. “So that’ll be my cue to leave. Try not to tease him too much after all of this, okay?”

He gets up from his seat then, and moves to properly close the app, but not before throwing the camera a cheeky wink. “Good luck on your studies, everyone! And don't forget to hand in your assignment for next week's module. I hear Professor Kim's grading it himself this time, so make sure to do well!”

He gives the camera a cute little wave, the action coming naturally to him as he would for one of his own streams, before exiting the call.

  


* * *

  


| @ZhongChenle LEE TAEYONG?

| @LeeJeno holy shit...

| @ZhongChenle ****THE****?? LEE TAEYONG?

| @HuangRenjun who is lee taeyong

| @LeeDonghyuck smh junnie we raised you better than this

| @ZhongChenle he’s like, one of the biggest streamers in the game right now? ex-model turned video game streamer not ringing any bells?

| @NaJaemin that face basically says it all tbh he’s pretty much a celebrity

| @NaJaemin still tho... icb professor kim’s got _game_ holy shit

| @HuangRenjun these words mean nothing to me bc i don’t live on the internet but kudos to prof kim i guess?

  


* * *

  


“So, the cat's out of the bag.”

There's a bit of shuffling as Doyoung rouses from under him, voice thick with sleep. “What?”

“I said,” Taeyong continues, snuggling deeper into Doyoung's chest as he settles down to get comfortable in bed. “That the cat's out of the bag. Your students know who I am.”

It's dark in their bedroom, hours passing by in a flash while Doyoung napped, until it was already well after sundown. Doyoung squints up at the ceiling, half-awake brain finally catching up to Taeyong's words.

“But how—”

“You left the stream on, idiot.” Taeyong's words are laced with fond affection, made even sweeter when he pulls Doyoung down for a chaste kiss and the other man complies without any resistance. “They saw me when I went to go shut your laptop down.”

Doyoung frowns contemplatively, before sighing in defeat. He buries his face into Taeyong's hair, pressing a quick peck to the top of Taeyong's crown before closing his eyes once more.

“Whatever,” he murmurs. “At least now, some of my students will stop trying to ask if I’m single. Your face can scare them away.”

Taeyong snorts, but he throws an arm around Doyoung’s waist and nuzzles his face into the crook of Doyoung’s neck. “As usual, I can’t tell whether that was an insult or a compliment.”

Doyoung hums, already falling back asleep. “Depends on the day.”

“Why did I agree to marry you again?”

“Because it took me forever to decide on that ring and you finally took pity on me.” Another kiss, but this time to Taeyong’s temple. “That, and my sparkling personality. Absolutely irresistible.” 

Taeyong returns the kiss with one of his own, lips pressed to the exposed line of Doyoung’s collarbone. 

“Mm, yes. Now I remember.” A yawn, and Doyoung’s fingers threading gently through his hair. “Your students would have a field day, y’know.”

“Hm?”

“If they could hear half the shit that comes out of your mouth when you’re with me. Imagine the headlines.”

“You talk as if you don’t _literally_ have a rabid following of fans thirsting after you.”

“‘s different,” he murmurs, words starting to slur with sleep. “And they’ll be your fans too, soon enough.”

Doyoung lets out a low whine. “Don’t remind me.” A pause, and Doyoung wonders if Taeyong’s already fallen asleep. “Is it too late to break up with you?”

Taeyong weakly kicks his shin, and misses. He presses another kiss onto Doyoung’s neck instead. 

“You’re five years too late, I think.”

Doyoung snorts, and tucks Taeyong’s head under his chin, pulling the blankets up and over them as Taeyong’s breathing starts to even out. 

“Oh well,” he whispers, unable to help the content smile that grows on his face. “I guess we’ll just have to make do.” 

  


* * *

  


Lee Taeyong ✔  
@TYTrack

New stream announcement: Fiancé face reveal and Q&A session! Ask away in the replies below :)

❤ 50.3K 1:27 PM - November 4, 2020

  


Lee Taeyong ✔  
@TYTrack

replying to  @ProfKimDoyoung

This is a no sweater vest stream btw

❤ 10.7K 1:30 PM - November 4, 2020

**Author's Note:**

> [cc](https://curiouscat.me/dhyuckiees) | [twitter](https://twitter.com/dhyuckIees)
> 
> my first attempt at a non-markhyuck fic... please be gentle ;;; kudos and comments are much appreciated <33


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